Posted on 06/08/2005 10:24:32 PM PDT by Murtyo
The brutal murder of a 26-year-old Sligo man has led to speculation that the country town is fast becoming a crime capital. Cróna Esler investigates.
When Hughie McGinley was shot on Grattan Street in Sligo on Thursday April 28, it wasn’t a simple mistake or an argument that got out of control. His assailant was not merely trying to teach him a lesson and he was not the victim of a practical joke that got out of hand. When Hughie was shot, his attacker had only one thing in mind…he wanted to kill the 26-year-old Sligo man. Hughie McGinley was in Sligo town on Thursday April 28 with his partner, 19-year-old Jacqueline McGuinness, and their three-month-old baby boy Barney. Shortly after 3pm on that fateful Thursday afternoon, Hughie McGinley drove onto Grattan Street in his white Hiace van, pulling up outside EJ’s Menswear, where he leant out through the window to speak to somebody who was walking along the footpath. As Mr McGinley leant out the window, a pillion passenger who had been sitting on a black motorcycle, which was parked across the road, walked across the street to Mr McGinley’s vehicle. He was wearing a motorcycle helmet and had the visor pulled down in front of his face. The gunman reached inside his jacket and produced a handgun. He proceeded to fire a single shot at the victim’s head, before making his escape on the back of a motorbike through John’s Street. Distraught at what had just occurred, a frantic and helpless Jacqueline cradled their beautiful baby boy and ran through the streets to get help for her injured partner. Gardaí were called and arrived promptly at the scene. The area was immediately cordoned off and shop owners were instructed to close their premises. Mr McGinley was taken to Sligo General Hospital by members of his family, who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, but was pronounced dead at 9.45pm that night. But the shooting of Hughie McGinley on April 28 was not an isolated incident, nor was this the first attempt that has been made on Hughie McGinley’s life. In March 2004, Hughie was sitting in the driver’s seat of his family’s white Hiace van at Devins Drive in Cranmore, with his two brothers Teague and Denis and another man, when a single gunman approached from an alleyway and calmly pumped four bullets into the van. Two of the bullets struck Teague in the chest and he had to undergo emergency surgery at Sligo General Hospital. Hughie was hit in the shoulder but still managed to drive his ailing brother to the hospital. On Thursday April 28, it was Hughie who found himself in extreme difficulty but sadly, when his relatives drove him to the hospital, their desperate efforts were in vain and Hughie never recovered.
The brutal daylight murder of Mr McGinley has been likened to that which one would only expect to see on the streets of a major US city and certainly not the type of thing one would envisage happening in a small city in the West of Ireland. Many locals are now living in the fear that this incident may spark a series of reprisals and that their once-carefree hometown is rapidly becoming the new Limerick. The Mayor of Sligo, Alderman Declan Bree, has expressed his absolute horror at the incident, stating that these gangland-style killings will simply not be tolerated by the people of Sligo. “This gangland-style killing has shocked the people of Sligo and it provides evidence that there are those who believe they can carry out such crime with impunity. This is the second shooting incident in as many weeks and again people have been traumatised,” he said. The business community in Sligo have also spoken out about their fear. Shortly after the horrific attack, one Grattan Street businessman said that the drive-by shooting was like a Mafia type operation and had sickened all of Sligo. “This is the type of thing you’d associate with bigger cities like Dublin or Limerick. And now there’s a real danger that we are turning into a smaller version of Limerick,” he said. Since his election to first citizen, Alderman Bree has been extremely vocal in his campaign to have stricter public order and anti-social laws implemented and has met with representatives from An Garda Síochána to discuss his worries. Furthermore, when An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, visited Sligo the day after the murder, Mr Bree again raised his concerns and told Mr Ahern that there was now an urgent need for the Government to deliver on its commitment to provide 2,000 additional Gardaí nationwide. More than 400 mourners turned out in Sligo on Monday May 2 to pay their final respects to 26-year-old Hughie McGinley, the settled traveller who was gunned down in broad daylight on a Sligo street the previous Thursday (April 28). But amidst the hoards of family members, friends and associates, a large Garda presence was very evident. The Gardaí who attended the funeral, in both plain clothes and in uniform, were not just from local stations, but had been drafted in from further a field, in an effort to ensure that McGinley’s funeral went ahead without any trouble or disturbances. Throughout the entire weekend, Gardaí were carefully and cautiously observing the situation and armed officers were at hand to search incoming vehicles. Approximately 40minutes before the chief mourners arrived at St Joseph’s Church in Ballytivnan for Monday’s funeral mass, one Garda carried out a thorough search of the church amid fears of retribution, while armed members of the Emergency Response Unit continued to patrol the grounds. Fr Leonard Taylor, who celebrated the funeral mass described Hughie as an “innocent victim in this terrible act”, stating that the 26-year-old did not deserve to die. Addressing the mourners, Fr Taylor said that nobody has the right to decide who lives or dies, explaining that nothing justifies murder before God. The local priest then pleaded with those present not to seek revenge for Hughie’s murder and not to repay evil with further evil. To accentuate his point, he referred to the Gospel which emphasises forgiveness. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and if you are struck in the face then turn the other cheek,” urged Fr Taylor. Despite major Garda concerns about retaliation, the funeral passed off peacefully and Hughie was laid to rest with dignity. However, although there was no sign of trouble at the funeral mass, fears are still rampant within the community that this will certainly not be the last of the trouble. The shooting of Hughie McGinley is being linked locally to an ongoing feud between two families in Sligo and although Gardaí are continuing to keep an open mind as they search for Hughie’s killers, there is a general feeling in the area that this murder is linked to the feud.
The way in which Hughie McGinley was shot has all the marks of a professional job and speculation is mounting that Hughie’s killer was in fact a hitman, hired to carry out the murder. According to Jimmy Woulfe, crime journalist with the Irish Examiner, the Sligo shooting has put the Limerick ones in the shade and Sligo has now been “promoted to the premier division of the shooting table”. Jimmy also explained that, in his opinion, judging by this cold and calculated professional job, it would appear that this was not the first time that this hitman had killed someone. He estimates that the assassin may have been paid between €10,000 and €20,000 to carry out the attack. Following the shooting, the gunman made his escape on the back of a motorbike through John’s Street and at 8.30pm that evening, a motorbike was found burnt out in a quarry in the Carrowmore area, three miles west of Sligo Town. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau were called in to examine the scene of the shooting and the scene at which the motorcycle was found. Door-to-door inquiries were also carried out in the town. The lack of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) on Sligo’s streets has been a bone of contention with some locals and public representatives for some time and this latest shooting certainly served to spark the CCTV debate back into life. Fianna Fáil Deputy for Sligo and Leitrim, Dr Jimmy Devins, had been one of the primary campaigners for CCTV on the streets of Sligo and was given assurances by the previous Minister for Justice that such a system would be implemented. However, these assurances were apparently overturned by the current Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell TD. Dr Devins last week insisted once again that CCTV is a very necessary ingredient in the stopping of crime, particularly in urban areas. “The speedy installation of CCTV in Sligo would be of great benefit to reducing crime overall. In this particular instance, CCTV might have been of assistance to the Gardaí in helping to solve the crime,” opined Deputy Devins. When contacted by the Western People, Mr McDowell responded by explaining that when the installation of Garda Town Centre CCTV systems at 17 locations, including Sligo, was announced, it was decided for financial, resources, management and complexity reasons that implementation would proceed on a phased basis. Sligo featured in the third and final phase of this plan. “Installation of the CCTV systems is of necessity a detailed, complex and lengthy process. The Garda authorities are giving careful consideration to a restructuring of the manner in which Phases two and three of these Garda CCTV systems will go to tender,” said the Minister. Continuing, he explained that he is anxious to accelerate the implementation of the remaining CCTV programme and reduce, as far as possible, the workload of the Garda Síochána in this regard. He stated that the proposed redesign of the tender document provides an opportunity to outsource the installation of Garda CCTV systems to the greatest possible extent, making use not only of the technical but also of the project management expertise in the private sector. To that regard the Minister has asked the Commissioner to submit proposals for a revised tender document for the eleven locations in the remaining two phases, with a view to achieving implementation in priority locations by the end of 2006.
The Fianna Fáil TD and the Mayor of Sligo have made heartfelt appeals to the Sligo public to assist the Gardaí with this crime in any way they can. Deputy Devins has once again told the community in Sligo that the Gardaí have assured the public that whatever information is passed onto them will be dealt with in the strictest confidence. “I am concerned that violent crime is spilling onto the streets of Sligo. Any retaliatory attack would only inflame the current situation,” he warned. “In the interest of the entire community, I would urge all witnesses or anyone with relevant information to come forward and co-operate with the Garda investigation,” said the Fianna Fáil TD. Mr Bree remarked that while there is always a tendency to criticise the Gardaí when such crimes occur, the reality is that while suspects may be know to the Gardaí, adequate evidence must be found and produced for a successful conviction. “The Gardaí do not work in a vacuum. They can only succeed in partnership and with the co-operation and the assistance of the general public. I sympathise with the Gardaí and I know how frustrated they must feel as in my view they have neither the resources nor the numbers to adequately fight serious crime. I believe it is time for the Minister for Justice to provide additional resources and personnel for the Gardaí,” said the Mayor. Two weeks ago, Labour’s Spokesperson on Justice, Mr Joe Costello TD, pointed out that, nationwide, fewer than one in six of the murder cases in which guns were used over the past seven years resulted in convictions in court. “The failure of the Government to deliver any of the promised 2,000 extra Gardaí promised before the last election is now a matter of concern. It is imperative that the Minister for Justice delivers on that commitment without further delay,” commented Mr Bree. Gardaí in Sligo have not ruled out any possible motives for the murder of settled-traveller Hughie McGinley. An incident room has been set up into the murder and members of the National Bureau of investigation are working with local detectives to solve the crime. They are appealing for anybody with information to contact them on 071 915-7070 or on 071 915-7071. The murder of Hughie McGinley has certainly served to heighten fear amongst locals but has also, no doubt, served to increase the tension between the two bickering families. Whether or not this crime was directly linked to the feud remains to be seen but regardless, the shooting of Hughie is the first fatality following a spate of violent incidents in recent years. As a result of Hughie’s death, the people of Sligo are bracing themselves for an escalation of violence and it is little wonder therefore, that many are predicting that the small city in the West of Ireland is in danger of becoming the new Limerick
I got to the part about "only expecting this kind of killing in a major American city" and quit reading.
These people have been watching way too much T V. They need to be reminded that the shoot-em-up shows that populate our networks are not real.
Idiots....
i don't expect much indepth knowledge of the US from people in the West of Ireland or any other place. But I know exactly what you mean - it gets old - tired, pointless cliches about the US.
Here's a revolutionary idea for the good people of Ireland: What would happen if the merchants on that Sligo street (and elsewhere) were allowed to own guns - and as lawful gunowners were considered to be auxiliary members of the Guardai? An alert shopkeeper with a powerful firearm in hand may have caused the hitman to flee at least for that day and place.
The article's description of the murder - the fact that a headshot wasn't immediately fatal - would be most consistent with a .22 handgun, a favorite of hitmen since it can be silenced fairly easily. I would certainly not wish to face down some guy holding a shotgun or a .9mm Carbine with a .22 handgun. Those odds aren't very favorable.
Do such thoughts ever occur to people in Europe?
That PC nonsense of "partner" and "settled traveller" also gets old fast.
I heard my brother's mother-in-law refer to someone as a "partner" - I hear partner and I think business, but in Ireland it's become a PC way of IDing people who're shacking up. And "Settled Traveller" it's that an oxymoron or an oxy O'Moron or something??
Oh!! But Irish people don't need guns, they're only for cowboys in America and other places, plus they're going to pass a NEW law making it more illegal to possess a handgun and then the criminals will decide to hand there in.
HE HE, The Western People on FR - I'll have to start posting articles from the paper (few Barf Alerts by Christy Loftus!)!
Sligo Town/city is a hellhole - Limerick of the Northwest!
Exactly what I advocate - but remember most Gardai are unarmed themselves - the only people around here that can carry as many arms as they want are terrorist-traitors of Sinn Fein/IRA!
LOL!! But what's this new law? Here's an idea: remove Sinn Fein/IRA's weapons by force!!!
Limerick is one of the places I want to visit because my mom's family came from there and Waterford. I've heard rumors of Limerick.
How rough is it? Would I be in danger of getting carjacked or robbed there 24/7, or is it just a gritty blue collar town?
Keep in mind when I think of city hellholes, I think of places like the Dexter or Brightmoor neighborhoods of Detroit, which is the epidomy of the "inner city" Stereotype.
Well, keep away from the Southhill estate (government owned housing - draws freeloading scumbags - don't you know).
Limerick is safe. Like any city, it has areas that you should stay out of, especially at night. The bad press Limerick has been getting over the past number of years is primarily down to a blood feud between rival criminal families and the assassination of a bouncer who stood up to thugs selling drugs in a night club. Unless you're planning on visiting those housing estates, I don't think you've much to worry about.
Gun ownership just hasn't been an issue in Ireland through the years. Gun crime has always been very low. Maybe attitudes will change if gun crime increases, but I can't see it. More armed Gardai, maybe. So far, guns just haven't been considered a necessity. And anyone who really wants one can get themselves a shotgun.
Maybe its the scenic setting, but I happen to find Sligo a very pleasant spot. I hope it doesn't a bad name just because of this murder. You can get a good hammering in any Irish town at the weekend when all the drunken kids leave the nightclubs.
:7)
The people of Limerick weren't too happy with McCourt after "Angela's Ashes"! To be honest, his account of Limerick was probably true of any Irish town back then. Ireland was a repressive, depressing place in many ways back then.
That was one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen.
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